GGG Micro-leaf Arcade Pushbutton Switch

[BobA]

Micro-Leaf™ Arcade Pushbutton Switch Review

Original announcement thread Link

I ordered 10 of these switches from GGG and they came in a bubble pack envelope dated October 1/2007. This review would have been sooner but it took 16 days to receive this package in Canada. (This is probably the fault of Canada Post)

Each switch comes packaged in its own plastic bag.  The microswitch is about 2/3 the size of a regular switch.  The attached mounting bracket allows it to fit into the mounting tabs of a Happs or X gaming button. (These are the ones I had to test)  The end of the lever on my switches was a bit ragged and sharp. This did not affect its operation but I did catch the side of a finger on it when fitting the switch into a button.

Now the question is how to test sound.  Pushbuttons make several distinct sounds when in use.  The one we have been talking about in the previous tread is the click of the microswitch when it swings over.  This click is very easily heard from 4 or 5 feet away when a regular microswitch is triggered.  The X gaming switches and the cherry switches are equally as loud but the cherry switch seems to have a lower frequency when it clicks which is not as penetrating as the click from the X gaming switch.  This maybe what causes the critics of the X gaming switches to call them very clicky.  The Micro-Leaf microswitch clicks but it is barely audible.  If I hold it more then a foot away I cannot hear it click and have to bring it closer to my ear to make sure it is still working.  I do not know what it would be in decibels but it is very very quiet.

When the micro-leaf is installed in the Happs or the X gaming button I cannot hear the microswitch click.  All of the sound is from the physical movement of the push button when it hits its stop or when it is released.  The feel of the pushbutton is a much lighter and I can no longer feel the point where the microswitch makes and breaks.

The terminals on the micro-leaf are about 3 mm wide so they are smaller then the regular terminals used on standard microswitches.

Overall the Micro-Leaf Arcade Pushbutton Switch does a great job of getting rid of the microswitch click.

I give it 4 joysticks out of 5

Edit: Spelling, Link added

[ahofle]

Thx for the review.     You may want to add a post to the announcement thread directing people here as most never visit this forum.

Was there anything negative other than the sharp lever edge?  Did you do any performance testing, with Track and Field for example?  In addition to the quietness, they are supposed to be more responsive. 

[BobA]

Good suggestion regarding original thread.   

The only other thing that others may consider a negative is that they are still microswitch buttons and will never have the same feel as a leaf switch.  They are a lot closer as the switch is now very quiet and feels smoother. I don't play track and field so my comments in that area would not come with any authority.

[fjl]

Seems like the contacts are pointing downward/vertical. I make my control panel with some pretty tight spaces so the contacts in horizontal come in handy. These swtiches with the contacts pointing down might not fit inside my CP enclosure.

[2600]

Good suggestion regarding original thread.   

The only other thing that others may consider a negative is that they are still microswitch buttons and will never have the same feel as a leaf switch.  They are a lot closer as the switch is now very quiet and feels smoother. I don't play track and field so my comments in that area would not come with any authority.

Track and Field may be a bad suggestion anyways.  What about Galaga or some other game you are better at?

[ahofle]

Track and Field may be a bad suggestion anyways.  What about Galaga or some other game you are better at?

I only suggested it because people with leaf switches claim they can never run as fast with microswitches as with leafs.

[2600]

I only suggested it because people with leaf switches claim they can never run as fast with microswitches as with leafs.

Not discounting you, but there is a little clarification.  BYOAC is like a big game of telephone, by the time you get the information it's not entirely correct.

People claim that they can never run as fast compared when using leaf switches on a real PCB compared to microswitches using MAME.  Show me a post where someone used leaf switches using MAME, then turned off the PC and switched the leaf switch buttons to microswitches, turned the PC back on and ran the same test. 

I'm not saying it isn't a valid test game, just that there should be more then one test game.  For all we currently know, T&F is to buttons as Arkanoid is to Spinner games.  The microleafs could be really good, but what if a T&F test doesn't turn in the results that everyone is hoping for.  Everyone would assume it's the microleafs fault when it may not be.

[fjl]

I don't see how turning off the PC and exchanging the leaf switches to microswitches would give you a different result than changing them without turning off the PC.

Pls explain...

[2600]

It won't matter from a testing standpoint, although you should turn the PC off when you switch them since it's a live circuit.

What really matters, and I was subtly trying to imply, is testing with the same exact setup.  That way the only variable are the switches.

[Tiger-Heli]

Seems like the contacts are pointing downward/vertical. I make my control panel with some pretty tight spaces so the contacts in horizontal come in handy. These swtiches with the contacts pointing down might not fit inside my CP enclosure.

That was mentioned in the introductory thread.  Randy said you could probably bend the tabs - once.

[metahacker]

in my unscientific testing.... i have checked the button press rate from my microswitches (1-4p start & coin) vs. micro-leafs on the same cp & pc..

im definitely able to repeat switch closings faster on randy's switches.

[spystyle]

Do these fit in the joysticks as well? It would be screwy to have silent buttons and noisy sticks running at the same time...

[Ond]

Do these fit in the joysticks as well? It would be screwy to have silent buttons and noisy sticks running at the same time...

I don't think they do, I have used these in Happ Buttons as well as the Versa Micro Switch's from GGG which are adjustable, in J-Sticks....see my tutorial for modding Sanwa J-Sticks with the Versa Micro switches for silent running in this thread    http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=95361.0.

I now have a bag of these Micro-leaf switches unused (for the time being) because I've switched over to Seimitsu buttons which run silent anyway.  In comparison Happ buttons fitted with these have the lightest most sensitive (almost too sensitive) action that I know of, chalk and cheese between the standard clickers that come in Happ buttons and the Micro-leafs.